Sex sells at Sundance – but there’s more than porn at this year’s festival

This year's Sundance will be showcasing more than just new film talent, with
the porn industry and sex addiction featuring in releases.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 17th to 27thPhoto: Getty Images

4:03PM GMT 16 Jan 2013

The number of films being shown at Sundance which tell tales of porn, addiction and the sex industry have got industry types claiming this year's festival theme as "sexual coming-of-age."

Lovelace, a film starring Amanda Seyfried as porn star Linda Lovelace and Don Jon's Addiction, about a man overcoming his addiction to porn, are two releases about sex at the festival. Steve Coogan and Stephen Fry star in The Look of Love, a biopic about Soho porn baron Paul Raymond.

Howl actor James Franco is introducing two further films about sex: the documentary kink and S&M film Interior. Leather Bar.

Speaking to Reuters, Sundance's Director of Programming Trevor Groth said the films indicate a new audience 'hungry for the taboo of sexuality and sexual relationships'.

There's arguably more interesting things about these films than the sex aspect. Don Jon's Addiction is the directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who starred in Sundance films Brick (2005) and (500) Days of Summer (2009). The film features Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore alongside Gordon-Levitt, who plays the title role.

Furthermore, other film highlights at this year's festival deal with big, but possibly less sexy, issues: IT, economics and WikiLeaks. Documentary directors are looking at America's widening income gap in Inequality for All and 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film. Alex Gibney is showing We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks and jOBS, a biopic of Apple entrepreneur Steve Jobs, is premiering as Closing Film.